(Atlantic) On Saturday, December 21st, the Atlantic Police Reserves held their annual Family Dreams Christmas Program. During this program, families are paired up with Reserve Officers and taken around town shopping. This year’s program assisted 8 families for the full shopping experience and 6 families that were invited to pick items from our mobile toys store. Each family also received a full Christmas dinner that they could take home and make. Officers were assisted this year by the Atlantic Girls Basketball Team as well as a couple of past Reserves. In total this program assisted 44 children and 21 adults from 14 families.
On Sunday, December 22nd, The Atlantic Police Department held their annual “Shop with a Cop” event at the Atlantic Walmart Store. This program pairs a family with an officer and they go shopping for items they need and some that are on the wish list. APD was assisted this year by the Atlantic Police Reserves, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, the Iowa State Patrol, the Iowa DNR, and the SWI Chaplains Association, as well as retired officers and some officer’s children and spouses. In total, they shopped for 55 children during this year’s program, making it the largest in our history by far.
In total, the Family Dreams Christmas and Shop with a Cop programs assisted 99 children and 21 adults from 32 Cass County Families in having a much more enjoyable holiday.
Atlantic Police Chief Devin Hogue said, ‘We would not be able to make these programs happen without the tremendous support of our community. Thank you to all of the businesses, groups, organizations, and individuals who donated and make these programs possible!”
